Slow and Steady
by yukuro
Summary: Rabid Rabbit Kamio races Not A Turtle Kaidoh while Shinji is jealous and Echizen steps on Momoshiro's foot.


**Disclaimer:** yuku does not nor will ever own tenisu no ouji-sama

**Pairing:** KaidohxKamio (gasp!)

Slow and Steady

By: yukuro

Ibu Shinji was officially bored. There was irritated too, but that was not as painfully obvious. Of course, no one could have known this because he was simply standing there, looking far more passive than he should be. That, or Kamio's mad ranting was driving everyone to the other side of the street.

Sticking a finger into his ear in attempt to muffle the sound, Shinji glanced to the side where Kamio was busy yelling about who knows what at Kaidoh, that snake-boy from Seigaku, who honestly looked ready to fall asleep. Shinji had been standing there for so long, he completely forgotten the reason he was there at all. He may as well be invisible to the two.

At first, Shinji had thought the way Kamio and Kaidoh had turned out seemed more or less random. He remembered a while ago when they were playing at the street tennis courts together, Kamio had gotten into another fight with Momoshiro and somehow ended up in a doubles match against each other. Kamio had called on Kaidoh to be his partner, claiming he was a better tennis player just to spite Momoshiro. Of course, then Momoshiro just _had_ to drag Shinji into the mess as well, because dragging Kamio's best friend into matters would piss him off.

While it was nice to play some tennis, the way Kamio was constantly bickering with Momoshiro got annoying after a while. Shinji was unsure how, but pretty soon Kaidoh was dragged into the argument as well. Next thing he knew, Kaidoh and Kamio had somehow formed an anti-Momoshiro grudge or something of that sort. Whatever it was, it made Echizen smirk from the sidelines.

They never finished that match, Shinji remembered. Maybe that was why Kamio had constantly used that as an excuse to run off to play tennis with Kaidoh. But that was really no reason to be embarrassed about anything.

It was not until Shinji decided to tag along once did he notice anything to be off. True, Kamio did spend much more time hanging out and practicing with Kaidoh than Shinji would have liked, but he did not exactly expect it was because they were becoming somewhat attached to each other.

Kamio's voice softened slightly when he spoke to Kaidoh and Kaidoh's words were not as rough as usual. Even though the changes were rather obvious, Shinji did not really start to feel jealous until Kamio embarrassedly admitted he kissed the other boy once and felt so awkward about it he had to run to Shinji and tell him right away.

Jealousy was a funny thing, really.

"Right, Shinji?"

While he really had not the right to say he was _jealous_, jealous of Kaidoh, it had something along the lines of snatching his best friend's time away from him. Nothing particularly special, of course.

"Shinji!"

Shinji blinked. He had been staring off randomly for so long, it look a while for his vision to focus on Kamio's flustered and almost worried face. "…yes?"

Kaidoh was standing off to the side with a bored expression, although slightly embarrassed, with Momoshiro and Echizen standing just a bit behind him. It looked as if Kamio was the only one all worked up, although Momoshiro did look as if he was about to die laughing at something.

"You agree with me, right?" Kamio asked, almost turning his lips into an upset pout.

Shinji blinked again. "…what were you arguing about again?"

Echizen cleared his throat loudly before starting, "Kaidoh-senpai and his boyfriend from Fudoumine were arguing about who gets to be—"

Before the first year could finish, Momoshiro slapped a hand over his mouth and burst out laughing himself. Echizen glared up at him slightly before promptly stepping down on Momoshiro's foot to release the older boy's grip on his face.

"I didn't really want to know, Echizen-kun," Shinji responded almost irritably, bothered by the way his best friend awkwardly turned red to match his hair and the snake-boy from Seigaku was hissing in embarrassment.

Echizen merely shrugged.

"Anyway," Momoshiro began, recovered from the stomp on his foot, "Mamushi, can't you solve your problems some other way? Like tennis, or something."

"The street courts are too far away from here," Kamio commented, his eyebrow twitching slightly. "Don't you think we already thought of that, baka?"

Momoshiro frowned and before he could open his mouth to let out another insult, Echizen stepped down on his other foot.

"How about a race?" Shinji suggested dully.

Kamio blinked and turned around. "Great idea, Shinji!"

"Wait a minute," Momoshiro interrupted loudly. "Mamushi is obviously at a disadvantage here! Kamio is your…your speed demon or whatever!"

"It doesn't matter," Kaidoh muttered, closing his eyes. His expression seemed slightly irritated.

"Five laps around this park then, Kaidoh?" Kamio asked, suddenly jumping lightly from foot to foot to warm himself up, his bangs bouncing as a reaction. He vaguely reminded of Shinji of an overly excited bunny rabbit.

"Wait a minute, Kamio," Shinji said, interrupting the redhead and yet still sounding passive. "This might not be a good idea. You know, I heard this story before about this rabbit racing this turtle and the rabbit was really confident he would win because he's fast and everything but the turtle was all calm and stuff kind of like Kaidoh but it doesn't make sense because he's a snake not a turtle even though you are kind of like a rabbit. A red, mad, hyperactive rabbit that knows how to rant that is…"

Kamio frowned. "I won't lose!"

"Neither will Mamushi!" Momoshiro exclaimed suddenly with bright cheerfulness, bringing his hand down heavily on his teammate's back. Kaidoh glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "The reputation of Seigaku is on you, Mamushi!"

Echizen pulled the brim of his hat lower to hide his smirk. "Careful, Kaidoh-senpai. Five laps around a big park like this is a long way to go."

Kaidoh shrugged Momoshiro's hand off his back without a word and by the time he and Kamio set off, Shinji still had no idea what they were racing for.

"Oh yeah…"

"Forget something, Ibu?" Momoshiro asked out of curiosity, turning towards the longhaired boy after the two racers took off.

Shinji stared out at his friend dashing away. "Hmm… Kamio's stamina still isn't very high yet, so I guess he is like that rabbit in a way…"

Frowning, Momoshiro glanced at Echizen. They exchanged glances of confusion and shrugged simultaneously.

--- ---

Kamio had run nearly all of his laps before he slowed to a light jog. He was beginning to feel sleepy. After all, he had stayed up the previous night to study for a history test and as a result, did not get enough sleep. He vaguely forgot the reason he was running at all, so he slowed to a walk before completely sitting against a tree.

Gazing down the road to make sure Kaidoh was not too close to catching up with him, Kamio yawned slightly. He could see Kaidoh about half a lap behind, although Kamio may have had lapped the other boy at some point. The redhead sighed and leaned back. He would only rest for a little while before Kaidoh caught up. There was no way he was going to lose anyway…

--- ---

Kaidoh was jogging at a steady pace throughout the first few laps and hardly felt tired at all. He was not completely sure why he was so tolerable of Kamio and ended up being put to this race, but he still complied. He really could not understand the reason he did these things, or how he had ended up being so kind to Kamio while he was distant from others. Though, he supposed some things were better left unknown.

He was getting closer to three-fourths of his last lap when he noticed Kamio fast asleep against a tree near the trail. Kaidoh paused in his tracks and glanced from side to side to make sure he was alone. Flushing slightly, he crept closer to where Kamio was propped up.

Kaidoh examined the redhead's face for a while, unsure really why he was doing it in the first place, but it was then when he noticed that while Kamio was sleeping, he looked vulnerable and his stress disappeared. He suddenly became more innocent and like a small child.

Face turning slightly brighter, it was then when Kaidoh remembered why he would do things for Kamio and why he acted differently. When he was quiet, Kamio was very cute and while he may protested while he was feeling like his usual fiery self, he looked as if he needed attention.

Feeling embarrassed, Kaidoh leaned forward slowly. Even though he felt as if he would surely die of embarrassment if anyone saw him, he could not quite stop himself. When Kamio had first kissed him, he was speechless and ended up not saying a word. Not much really changed, but now…

Their lips had just barely made contact when Kamio shifted in his sleep, causing Kaidoh to fall back at once. Hissing quietly, Kaidoh rubbed at his face, wishing his blush away. He slowly lifted his gaze from the ground to see if Kamio wanted to hit him for what he did. Thankfully, the redhead was still asleep, comfortably eased against the tree. Kaidoh let out a breath of relief before scrambling to his feet.

It had taken up nearly all of his courage to do that in the first place and he was not willing to risk it again. To get his mind off of the feather-soft kiss, Kaidoh continued to jog down the trail, forgetting that his face was still rather red with embarrassment.

Somehow, the sound of distant footsteps woke Kamio up. He blinked a few times and felt his lips tingle slightly with warmth. Shaking his head out of a daze, Kamio jumped to his feet and glanced down the trail. There was no one behind him anymore, but in front of him, Kaidoh was just feet away from where Shinji and the others waited.

Cursing his carelessness, Kamio dashed as fast as he could to catch up. As he ran, he wondered why his cheeks felt oddly flushed and his lips tingled. Probably from the fatigue of race, he convinced himself before picking up the pace.

By the time Kamio finished, Kaidoh was being congratulated by an overly enthusiastic Momoshiro. Also by then, Kamio's cheeks were flushed from his running, but Kaidoh's cheeks were flushed from what had previously happened. From then on, Kaidoh decided to never mention it again.

"I tried to warn you," Shinji stated as he approached his redhead friend, handing him a bottle of water. "The rabbit is bound to lose to the turtle."

Taking a sip of water, Kamio closed one eye and used the other look questioningly at his best friend. "Rabbit? Turtle? What are you talking about, Shinji?"

"Kamio," Shinji began again, ignoring his friend's questions, "have you been kissed?"

Choking on his water, Kamio coughed, completely unaware of the fact that behind him, Kaidoh was choking on his water as well. "What?! What makes you think _that_?"

Shinji shrugged vaguely. "I don't know. Your lips just look…kind of red or something. Eh…but what would I know about it anyway…"

Kamio wiped his mouth in embarrassment as he watched Shinji mutter about random things to himself. He felt like he was kissed in a dream, but he really did not want to talk about it.

Momoshiro grinned widely as he patted Kaidoh on his back. "Not bad, Mamushi! Looks like slow and steady really does win the race."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kaidoh muttered, tossing the water bottle back at his teammate. He was still willing away the last of his blush.

While Momoshiro dragged Echizen over to hurriedly chat with Shinji, Kaidoh and Kamio exchanged awkward glances. They had forgotten some things as t hey were running the race, but they did learn one thing: in order to win anything, they had to go at a slow and steady pace. Nothing can be gained too quickly, so they had to move ahead slower.

Kamio blinked.

"Hey, what were we racing for again?"

Owari.

--- --- ---

**A/N:** Lol. I just… Lol. I have no idea what to say about this. Well, it's nice to try something new since I usually like IbuxKamio or SengokuxKamio. Ah… much Kaidoh love! …Lol. Heheh, now I just feel giddy. Blah. So that's my KamioxKaidoh for Cheeseburger of Doom. I really did try hard.

Thanks for reading!


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